After a short comrcial break, the ga resud as though nothing had happened.
Across the Capital, viewers returned to their screens carrying drinks, snacks, and fresh conversation, while in the sectors people gathered again beneath public displays, forced to continue watching because once the ga resud, no one wanted to miss what ca next.
Inside the wilderness zone, however, the mood had changed completely.
The question now hung over everyone whether spoken aloud or not:
Who is the Jobless?
Kennedy’s death had turned that question from curiosity into fear.
No one wanted to beco the next accusation. No one wanted to stand in front of a vote again, knowing now that even innocence offered no protection if enough people believed otherwise. Because of that, every participant beca careful—not only in behavior, but in appearance. People now exaggerated their work, making sure every movent looked useful enough to be seen if anyone happened to be watching.
The ga no longer involved only finishing tasks.
It involved surviving suspicion.
Near the forest edge, Tansy drew her bow again.
The arrow left her fingers with clean force and pierced a rabbit before it could fully leap away through the underbrush.
The animal rolled once and stopped.
Rose imdiately ran forward, picked it up, and returned carrying it by the legs.
For a mont neither spoke.
Tansy was already preparing another arrow, but her eyes remained distant.
Rose noticed.
"Sister... what happened?"
Tansy blinked and shook her head lightly.
"Nothing."
Then after a pause she admitted:
"I was thinking about Kennedy."
Rose lowered her eyes slightly.
"Uncle Kennedy died."
The earlier confidence in her face had faded.
"I even voted for the other guy... but he still died."
Her voice carried confusion more than guilt, because she still had not fully understood how soone could die even when the vote was wrong.
Fear sat beneath that confusion now.
Tansy reached over and gently patted her head.
"Don’t think too much. We just need to find the real Jobless. If we do that, we clear the ga."
Rose nodded, but the fear remained.
Then she asked quietly:
"Sister... what if soone turns into Jobless?"
Tansy looked directly at her.
"Then turn into Jobless too."
Her answer ca without hesitation.
The certainty in her eyes made Rose stare for a second before slowly nodding again.
Then suddenly nearby branches rustled.
Both sisters reacted imdiately.
Tansy turned and raised the bow.
Rose stepped back and lifted the rabbit instinctively as though ready to run.
Their eyes fixed on the tree line.
But nothing erged.
No movent followed.
Only leaves shifting lightly.
"Probably wind," Tansy muttered, though she did not fully trust it.
Still, she lowered the bow and led Rose away deeper toward their assigned route.
Only after they disappeared did soone reveal himself.
Behind the tree, badge 5 slowly leaned out from cover.
He had remained hidden the entire ti.
His eyes followed the sisters until they vanished between the trees.
Then he stepped back again into silence.
Elsewhere, near the mine entrance, Tyler finally paused his work.
He placed the pickaxe down beside the rock wall and sat on a flat stone, taking out one of the sandwiches from his supply bag along with a bottle of water.
To anyone watching, it looked like simple rest after labor.
But beneath the surface, sothing else had already begun.
Tiny nanobots detached from his suit and moved quietly downward through loose soil, spreading beneath the ground in several directions.
They traveled silently through the earth, probing structure deeper than any ordinary tool could reach.
Tyler ate slowly while waiting.
After several minutes, the returning data reached him.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
There were power lines beneath the ground.
Deep.
Far deeper than natural wilderness should have allowed.
Not one line.
Multiple.
Engineered placent.
Protected channels.
That answer confird what he had suspected the mont he arrived here.
This forest was artificial.
Not true wilderness.
Not outside the Capital at all.
Everything— the trees, river, birds, mine, and open sky— had been built or simulated inside controlled structure.
Which ant they had never left the Capital’s interior.
They were still trapped inside its folded geotry.
Tyler drank water, looked toward the artificial sky above the trees, and let out a quiet sigh.
"Alright..."
He picked up the pickaxe again.
"Let’s hope this ga ends faster."
---
Night arrived slowly across the artificial wilderness, though by now Tyler no longer trusted the sky enough to call it natural.
The light above the forest dimd in carefully controlled stages, the false sun sinking behind distant tree lines while shadows stretched across the river and the mine entrance. The temperature dropped just enough to feel believable, and before long the AR display in every participant’s glasses activated again.
A new ssage appeared.
[Night Phase Begins.]
Then another line followed.
[Safe Zone Open.]
Not far from the central clearing, a marked area lit up with guiding lights embedded into the ground. By the ti the remaining participants gathered there, they found a prepared resting zone waiting exactly where the system directed them.
A large campfire already burned at the center.
Around it stood rows of simple beds, folded blankets, and several tents arranged in a wide circle. Everything had clearly been placed before they arrived—too neat, too deliberate, too ready.
The ga had even provided sleeping arrangents.
Which sohow felt more unsettling than comforting.
Because nothing inside the Capital ca without intention.
Still, exhaustion won over suspicion quickly.
People moved toward the tents almost imdiately, choosing sleeping spots with the sa caution they now applied to everything else.
Most naturally grouped with those from their own sectors.
Shared origin had beco the closest thing to trust anyone still possessed.
Others ford temporary alliances with whoever had survived beside them through work that day.
No one wanted to sleep entirely alone if they could avoid it.
Sector 11 gathered near one side of the campfire.
Tansy sat first, Rose beside her, while Victor remained close enough that he clearly did not want distance after Kennedy’s death. Tyler stayed slightly apart at first, watching the camp while pretending not to.
That was when one of the n from another sector approached.
He was older than Victor, broad-shouldered, carrying the casual confidence of soone who had survived enough to believe he could now claim comfort where he wanted.
His eyes lingered openly on Tansy before he spoke with lewd tone.
"You should sleep in my tent tonight."
The tone made the aning clear long before his next action.
He reached out and grabbed Tansy’s wrist.
The movent happened too fast for Victor to react.
Too sudden even for Tansy’s first response.
But Rose moved first.
A broken arrowhead flashed in her hand.
Slash.
The sharpened edge cut across the man’s hand.
It was not deep enough to cripple, but sharp enough to split skin cleanly and force blood to appear imdiately.
The man jerked backward with a curse, releasing Tansy at once.
His face twisted in anger.
Rose stood up fully now, small but completely unafraid.
The broken arrowhead remained pointed toward him.
At the sa mont, Tyler stepped forward and took position beside the sisters.
Victor followed too, nervous but still standing there.
The man looked from Rose to Tyler.
Then to Victor.
He had clearly intended easy intimidation.
Instead he found resistance forming instantly.
For a second it looked like he might say sothing uglier.
His mouth opened.
Then he swallowed whatever insult had been rising.
He only glared once at Rose, then turned and left without another word.
The tension around the nearby tents loosened slowly.
So participants pretended not to have watched.
Others watched openly but chose silence.
No one wanted conflict during the night phase if the ga considered the zone safe.
Once the man disappeared, everyone sat again.
The campfire crackled between them while the artificial night deepened overhead.
For a while, people began speaking quietly about the day.
Victor admitted parts of his fishing task had terrified him because every splash near the river made him imagine hidden danger.
Rose described how she and Tansy had tracked movent in the forest while pretending not to notice soone watching.
Tansy spoke little, still thinking more than speaking.
Victor remained visibly shaken even now. The fear had not left him properly since Kennedy’s death.
What struck Tyler more was how differently Rose handled it.
Rose was roughly Victor’s age, yet fear sat on her more lightly.
Part of that ca from having Tansy nearby.
Part of it ca from Tyler standing with them.
That made confidence easier.
Eventually the group separated for sleep.
Two tents.
Tyler and Victor in one.
Tansy and Rose in the other.
Even while lying down, Tyler kept part of the nanobot layer active beneath his suit.
Not because he expected attack imdiately.
Because trusting the word "safe" inside this ga felt foolish.
The night passed without incident.
At dawn, the false sky brightened again.
A pale artificial morning spread over the trees while the AR system reactivated.
New task assignnts appeared imdiately.
Everyone received different work again.
Tyler’s display changed first.
Fishing.
Tansy received fruit gathering.
Rose and Victor were assigned together.
Flower search.
Their task specifically required locating rare exotic flowers marked sowhere deeper in the forest.
Rose imdiately looked annoyed because she is not tead up with Tyler or her sister.
Victor looked nervous because anything involving deeper forest now felt dangerous. But also little excited to go with Rose.
Tansy hesitated visibly before leaving.
She did not want Rose out of sight after yesterday.
But assignnts allowed no argunt.
So eventually they separated.
Tyler moved toward the river with his rod and supply bag, the task as dull as expected.
Fishing inside an artificial forest while trying to detect hidden enemies felt almost insulting after the previous day’s deaths.
He sat near the water, cast the line, and watched the surface while the current moved gently through stone.
The quiet lasted several minutes.
Then his glasses flickered sharply.
A new system alert opened directly before his eyes.
[We have two suspects.]
Tyler straightened imdiately.
The text expanded.
Then nas appeared beneath.
And for the first ti since entering this ga, his expression changed openly.
His eyes widened.
[Who is the Jobless?]
[Chosen No. 5 — Vivi
Chosen No. 53 — Tansy]
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